Superman Skips Peacemaker Season 2 — Even After That Shocking Cameo (Spoilers)

Peacemaker just tossed a DCU grenade. If you have not watched the latest episode, Episode 6, 'Ignorance is Chris,' this is your spoiler warning.

So yeah, that really was Lex Luthor

Nicholas Hoult shows up as Lex Luthor in the new episode, and it is the same Lex he is playing in James Gunn's Superman. That officially locks Peacemaker into the wider DC Universe in a way that is more than just winks and name-drops. It is a real crossover move, not a one-off gag.

Do not wait for Superman to fly in

But if you were hoping that Lex's arrival meant David Corenswet would crash the party in the cape this season, James Gunn says nope. He told Variety that Superman is not showing up in Peacemaker Season 2. Not Corenswet, not any alternate-Earth version, nobody.

'No. In fact, David was very upset that Nick got to be on the show, and he did not. It just did not work. I needed Lex in the show to serve a specific purpose. And actually, what Lex and Rick Flag are up to affects very much what happens in an aspect of "Man of Tomorrow." So all of that is connected. But this relationship between Rick Flag and Lex Luthor is a potentially negative thing for Superman and all meta-humans.'

That is the inside baseball of it: Lex is not a novelty cameo. He is here because the Lex-and-Rick-Flag thread is doing setup for Man of Tomorrow, and apparently it is bad news for Superman and meta-humans across the board. Also worth noting: Corenswet wanted in. Gunn says he was bummed that Hoult got the Peacemaker call and he did not. And yeah, after John Cena popped up in Gunn's big-screen sandbox, it would have been fun to see Supes return the favor. Timing and story logic won the day.

Gunn's master plan, in his own words

Beyond the cameo chatter, Gunn laid out where this is all headed. He says he has always had the big DCU spine mapped out, even if the specifics have shifted along the way.

Or as he put it: there is a long-term outline, shows and movies that slot together, surprises that pop up (like a certain Clayface project), and a few harder roads than expected. But the broad plan is still steering through 'Superman,' 'Peacemaker,' 'Man of Tomorrow,' and beyond.

• Peacemaker S2, Episode 6: Nicholas Hoult reprises Lex Luthor, directly tying the show to the new DCU continuity.
• Superman: Corenswet is not appearing in Peacemaker, despite wanting to; Hoult's Lex is in play across both.
• Man of Tomorrow: Targeting July 9, 2027. The Lex/Rick Flag storyline in Peacemaker feeds into this movie and creates problems for Superman and meta-humans.
• Elsewhere in the slate: Gunn says some pieces, like 'Clayface,' arrived unexpectedly, but everything plugs into the larger outline.

The takeaway

Hoult's Lex dropping into Peacemaker is not just fan service; it is connective tissue. Superman is not coming to TV right now, but the show is clearly setting pins for where the movies are headed. If you wanted proof that Gunn's DCU is one unified sandbox, this episode is it. Now we wait to see how ugly that Lex-and-Flag partnership gets when Man of Tomorrow lands in 2027.